May 23, 2010
Have you all had a chance to read the Intelligence Report in Parade Magazine this weekend? It is called Why Are So Few Chemicals Tested? And I think it says so much in very few words. It is no more than a small Parade Magazine page long, but it really shows the problem with how chemicals are views today.
“Since the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) became law in 1976, the number of chemicals in commercial products has risen from 60,000 to 80,000 yet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has required testing on only 200 and restricted just five.”
That is really a very telling statement. Only 200 of the 80,000 chemicals that are used in commercial products today have been tested. That is 0.25% of the chemicals we use every day in the US! Go take a look at your deodorant, your laundry detergent, your glass cleaner, read the ingredients and realize that most of those chemicals probably haven’t been tested individually, but they certainly haven’t been tested together. And think about the fact that there are chemicals you come into contact with daily that you don’t even have a list of the ingredients for such as the flame retardant used in your TV and computer, the stain resistant chemical used in your carpet, the pesticide you have sprayed in your home, the herbicide you use on your garden, the additives to your gas, the chemicals used to “preserve” your food. It is every where, in every thing and we just assume that the regulatory groups are doing their jobs.
Are they? I don’t think so. I don’t think we are doing ourselves, the environment or the future any favors by allowing the idea of chemicals are safe until proves unsafe. Most of the effects of these chemicals are so unknown that we are extremely foolish to think they are safe.
Learn more about these chemicals at the Environmental Working Group website.
